Apparatus for unhairing skins



April 4, 1933- E. BRAUER 1,903,363

APPARATUS FOR UNHAIRING SKINS Filed Feb. 10, 1932 FZ eaja/771 raur; INVENTOR.

O\ 'I BY 'lr/ I ATTORNEY.

Patented Apr. 4, 1933 Y UNITED YSTATES ELIJAH BRAUER, or JERSEY cI'rY,V NawV JERSEY ArPAnATUsFoR UNHAIRING SKINSV Application filed February 10, 1 932. Serial No. 592,097.

In the removal of hair and wool from skins, it is customary to subject the skins to certain chemical treatment to facilitate the later removal of the hair or wool. However, it has been difficult and impractical to remove the fine hair and wool, and particularly the hair and wool'on the tail, leg and head portions of the animal skins.

The object of the'present invention is to provide anl apparatus for eectively and expeditiously removing all of the hair orrwool from the skins of pelts of animals. By means of invention the considerable quantity of hair or wool on the tail, leg and head portions of the skins, usually discarded as waste, may be readily recovered or secured in good clean condition forV use in the various industries. In attaining this object, I preferably mechanically subject the pelts or skins to pres- 0 sure or a 'Y partial crushing operation to 5 action to' complete the spread oropen the pores and loosen the hairs, as well as to cause detachment of many of the latter. I then subject the pressed or crushed pelts to a mechanicalshaking and combing detachment of the hairs or wool and to sift dirt and foreign matter therefrom. The hair or wool is then pneumatically separated from the skins Vproper and vconveyed to a desired point of discharge and collection, the skins and heavier matter being discharged at a' separate point for collection and disposal.

The invention consists in the novel construction and combination of parts shown in the accompanying drawing, and hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view, partly in vertical section and partly `in elevation, of so 0 much of a machine or apparatus as will be necessary to'understand the invention.

Figure 2 is a fragmentary plan view of the platform of the shaking combing and sifting conveyor; and

Figure 3 is a fragmentary vertical section showing a modified construction using longitudinally corrugated pressing or crushing rolls.

or crushing rollers which are suitably driven in the direction indicated by thearrows, and between which the pelts are passed for being pressed or partially crushed to spread or open the pores `lof the skin Vand thereby A loosen the hairs, as well as to cause detachment of many of them. One of the rolls is preferablyad justable toward the other so that the desired pressure or crushing action may be had in 'accordance with the various thicknesses of the "60' pelts or portions thereof fed between the rolls. The adjusting means for one of the rolls is broadly indicatedv at 7. Y

A horizontal endless belt conveyor 8 may ,i

be provided onto which the pelts may be laid 55 and by means of which they may be conveniently fed to and between the crushing or pressing rolls. Arranged at the discharge -sides of the respective rolls :5 and 6 and bear- Y ing upon the periphery thereof, are yieldable tion.

The presentv invention also contemplates :so

the use of a shaking combing and sifting conveyor onto which the pelts and hair areV discharged from the pressing or crushing rolls. As shown7 this conveyor consists of a Q platform 11 having upstanding teeth 12 and 85 carried by a frame 13 mounted through the medium of straps and eccentrics as at 14 upon a pair of transverse shaftsl. By means of of the straps and eccentrics, the platform 1l is given an orbital movement ina relatively 99 small path and Vat a relatively high speed so as to throw the pelts and hair upwardly and forwardly in a direction away from the crushing or pressing rolls. In this way, the

hair and pelts are convey-ed along toward '9 the discharge end of the apparatus and as the pelts are thrown ahead across'the teeth 12, the latter act upon the pelts Vfor completing Referring more in detail to` thedrawing,

the unhairing operation;l While a pair of l.. and 6 indicate a pair of co-acting pressing 50 5 shafts with eccentrics and strap connections at the various teethi'small openingsor pe'rfo.-v

rations 16 through which dirt and other foreign matter may readily sift for separation from the hair or wool and pelts as they are unhaired and conveyedv along toward the discharge end of the machine or apparatus.

At the discharge end of the apparatus or machine, the platform 11 is preferably provided with a foraminous end section 17, de-

void of teeth, and over which the hair and Vpelts are( conveyed. At this point pneumatic means is provided for separating the hair or wool from the skins proper and conveying such hair or wool Vto a desired point of discharge and collection. As shown, this means may consist of a suction hood 18 yarranged over thefforaminous section. 17 in operative proximity to the latter and connected by a pipe .19v with the inlet of a blower 20. As shown, the hoodl maybe adjustable toward and 4'from'thesection 17 so as to gain the desired collecting action in accordance with the character ofthe pelts being unhaired. In yother words, this adjustment insures complete separation of the hairs without causing the vpelts or portions thereof to be drawn jalong with the hairs into the hood 18. Ob-

viously, after the hairs or wool have been separated from the `skins of the pelts, said skins Ywill be discharged over the terminalY end of the foraminous section 17 into a suit- Y able collection receptacle, for disposal. The

outlet of the blower 2O is connected with Va pipe 21 by means of which the hair or wool is vconveyedto a desired point of discharge and collection.

In order to facilitate separation of the hair orwool from the skinsv at the foraminous section 17, means is provided to subject the under side ofthe foraminous section V17 to a ,blast of air whereby theV skins and hair are agitatedA and lifted slightly. In this manner,

the peltsand hair are kept from packing tightlyon the section 17 so that the suction will be'eective in removing all of the hair and wool from the skins as they pass over the foraminous section 17. The means for blowing blasts of air through the section 17 and against the skins and hair passingthereover preferably consistsof a series of discharge pipes 22 arranged transversely beneath the foraminous section 17 and communicating withV a manifold 23 connected to the outlet of a blower 24. While the passage of peltsthrough the present apparatus once tions of animal skins has heretofore been will eect a substantially complete unhairing thereof, in some cases it may be necessary to pass the pelts through the machine or apparatus two or more times to effect actually complete unhairing. Itis particularly pointed out that the term hair and unhairing, as used herein,is intended to broadly refer to the Vhairy growthron the skins of all animals whether of the straight or wool character.

The present machine or apparatus is thoroughly reliable yfor .use in unhairing the thicker and irregular portions of animal skinsor pelts, such as the leg, tail and head portions thereof. However, these thicker portions may not feed readily between the pressing or crushing-rolls if the latter are of smooth form as illustrated in, Figure 1.

Accordingly, when the apparatus is used for these portions of animalpelts or skins, the

rolls are preferably longitudinally corrugatif,

ed as shown at 5a and 60o in Figure, the corrugations being of relatively shallow form and long curvature to avoid clogging andpermit ready yielding of the scrapersl 9l and 10 in and out to follow thecorrugations and ,1,99

closely contact all times. l In actual practice, the pelts or skins are actually unhaired to a surprising extent in the periphery' of the rolls4 at passing between `the pressing or crushing; rolls, although the skins proper are not subjected to lsufficient pressure to cause their mutilation to an vobjectionable extent. In

fact, the pelts. or skins are not comminuted at all. While Iamlnot entirely certain asto; Ythe exact manner in whichthe hairs are loosened and detachedrin their passage between Y the pressing or crushing rolls, it appears that the same is mainly caused by the resultant spreading or opening of the pores. Further, the unhairing operation is effectivelyV completed by the action of the shaking combing and sifting conveyor, and due to the form or the latter is not clogged and ultimately rendered inoperative, as is the case with stripping brushes or rolls of apparatus heretofore proposed. llVhile theuremovalof hair and wool from the tail, leg and headV pordeemed impractical because of the slow and tedious work involved in the hand plucking of the hairs heretofore found necessary, the present machine is so eectiveand expeditious in performing this operation as to make it quiteprofitable to Vrecover or secure the hair or wool from these portions of animal skins, instead of discarding such portions as waste.

While I have shown and described whatis believed to be the` preferred embodiment of lthis invention, it is to be understood that various changes and modications may be made without departing vfrom the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed. j

and nature ofthe platform 11 of this'conv'ey- What I claim as new is:

l. In an apparatus for unhairing skins,

means for loosening and partially detaching the hairs, and means to subsequently subject the skins to a shaking and combing action to complete the detachment of the hairs.

2. In an apparatus for unhairing skins, means for detaching loosened hairs from the skins including a shaking conveyor having upstanding hair-detaching teeth.

3. An apparatus for unhairing skins including means to mechanically subject the skins to a partial crushing sufficient to loosen and detach some of the hairs, and means to shake and comb the partially crushed skins to substantially comp-lete the detachment of the hairs.

4. An apparatus for unhairing skins including means to mechanically subject the skins to a partial crushing sufficient to loosen and detach some of the hairs, means to shake and comb the partially crushed skins to substantially complete the detachment of the hairs, and pneumatic means to separate the detached hairs from the skins proper.

5. An apparatus for unhairing skins including means to mechanically subject the skins to a partial crushing sufficient to loosen and detach some of the hairs, means to shake and comb the partially crushed skins to substantially complete the detachment of the hairs, pneumatic means to separate the detached hairs from the skins proper, said second-named means comprising a shaking conveyor embodying a platform having upstanding teeth, said platform having a foraminous untoothed section at the discharge end thereof, and said pneumatic means embodying a suction hood arranged above said foraminous section.

6. An apparatus for unhairing skins including means to mechanically subject the skins to a partial crushing suiicient to loosen and detach some of the hairs, means to shake and comb the partially crushed skins to substantially complete the detachment of the hairs, pneumatic means to separate the detached hairs from the skins proper, said second-named means comprising a shaking conveyor embodying a platform having upstanding teeth, said platform having a foraminous untoothed section at the discharge endthereof, said pneumatic means embodying a suction hood arranged above said foraminous section,land means beneath said foraminous section to subject the hairs and skins to up- Ward blasts of air to facilitate the separation of the hairs from the skins.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

' ELIJAI-I BRAUER. 

